The Obama administration announced Wednesday that 1,662 North Carolinians successfully enrolled in health insurance plans through the federally run exchanges.

Nationally, the number was just over 106,000, well below the initial estimates from the administration. In North Carolina, applications had been filed for health care coverage for 57,653 people. Of those, 15,051 are eligible for financial assistance.

In North Carolina, only Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Coventry Health Care, which is owned by Aetna Health Inc., are offering plans, and only BCBSNC is offering plans in every county. Spokesmen from each company declined to give specific figures on how many people enrolled in their plans.

“There are no surprises here - the enrollment numbers demonstrate the impact of the challenges with Healthcare.gov,” said Lew Borman, a spokesman for BCBSNC. “We continue to see a high level of interest from consumers, and we are doing everything we can to help our customers research plans and enroll.”

In one of a few moves to reject any aspect of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature piece of legislation, Republican lawmakers in North Carolina declined to establish a state-run exchange. These are the online marketplaces in which private insurers can sell health insurance to individuals, and those with low incomes can directly apply for subsidies.

Because state lawmakers did not establish a state-run exchange marketplace, North Carolinians must shop for plans on the federally run marketplace, which has been beset with computer glitches and other problems. Of the 106,185 Americans who have purchased health insurance through the exchange, 75 percent came from the 15 state-based exchanges (including the District of Columbia), while 25 percent came from the 36 states under the federal system.

“The promise of quality affordable coverage is increasingly becoming reality for this first wave of applicants to the health insurance marketplaces,” said Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “There is no doubt the level of interest is strong. We expect enrollment will grow substantially throughout the next five months, mirroring the pattern that Massachusetts experienced. We also expect that the numbers will grow as the website, HealthCare.gov, continues to make steady improvements.”